Anna Dickinson (1842-1932)

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson became famous as a young abolitionist. From an orthodox Quaker family, she began lecturing on the rights of African-Americans while in her teens. Her greatest triumph was when the Republican Party asked her to stump on behalf of its New York candidates in 1863. In 1864 Dickinson became the first woman ever to speak before Congress. She also lectured on the rights of women. At the height of her career Dickinson earned a thousand dollars a lecture. Later she became a novelist, a playwright and an actress, but struggled with her physical and mental health. The public was less kind to her as a middle-aged woman than as a precocious teenager.